A number of different devices may be used to occlude a body cavity including, for example, a blood vessel. An example of an occlusion device includes embolization coils. It is known to cut off blood supply to site of tumors to kill the tumors. Current embolization methods and devices make it difficult to determine the degree of embolization.
To determine the condition of embolization, a blood pressure monitoring means may be used with a catheter to monitor blood pressure at the target site during embolization. The blood pressure monitoring means, however, cannot repair the embolization when insufficient embolization or over-embolization occurs at the target site. Insufficient embolization may be ineffective or unacceptably slow in accomplishing the desired outcome. Over-embolization may result in patient discomfort or pain or other complications. When insufficient embolization or over-embolization occurs, the clinician will need to retrieve the occlusion device that is already placed in patient's body and replace it with another occlusion device to ensure proper embolization.
Moreover, the typical embolization methods and devices may involve undesirable partial migration of the occlusion device or mis-embolization (i.e., embolization of non-target vessels).